Small charities could be facing a ‘slow death’ due to Covid-19

Lots of events have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic

Thousands of smaller charities face a “slow death”, experts fear, amid declining donations and limited grants.

There are 322 charities in West Lindsey, 147 micro charities, 116 small charities, 25 medium charities, two large and one major.

The cancellation of all participation events since March has seen overall donations to non-NHS charities drop by 46 per cent on a leading fundraising site.

But analysis by the BBC has found that smaller charities, without the reserve levels of their larger counterparts, are at far greater risk of having to cease operating entirely.

The leader of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) said the declining income from collection tins, charity shops and community events such as fetes and raffles had already hit the incomes of smaller operations by “hundreds of millions of pounds”.

Even though he said overall giving in 2020 was up by £800 million compared to 2019 - the majority of those funds were absorbed by NHS charities.

The total income from all West Lindsey charities is £53,140,294 with small and micro charities currently at £4,244,111.

Neil Heslop, chief executive, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), said: “The sector as a whole has been hit and the fundamental paradox they face is one of spiralling demand amidst a time of collapsing income.

“The challenge has really been for many other charities, especially the smaller ones that do not have much by way of reserves, that saw their normal fundraising drives completely shut down.

“They now find themselves at risk of shutting down because of all those sponsored runs and walks that have been cancelled, the collection tins that bring in spare change at the rail station, all those small amounts of money which are collected at spring fetes for so many good, local causes that add up to hundreds of millions of pounds.